Chelsea 3-2 West Ham: Liam Rosenior’s in-game changes inspire the Blues to win the Premier League

This was the beginning of Liam Rosenior’s career as a Premier League manager.

Saturday’s thrilling win over West Ham was Chelsea’s third league win in a row since the 41-year-old replaced Enzo Maresca at the start of January.

In one of his biggest tests to date, it was his radical substitutions in the first half that led to the Blues recovering from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 and move them into the top four.

After making seven changes for their midweek Champions League win over Napoli, a poor first-half display allowed relegation-threatened West Ham to take deserved control.

But after making three changes in the first half, Rosenior inspired a comeback as substitutes Mark Cucurella and Joao Pedro equalized for Chelsea with a goal each – before Enzo Fernandes scored a dramatic winner in stoppage time.

Chelsea can be criticized for a poor first half performance that saw them booed, fully deserved to go two goals down, and raised further questions about the quality of their squad.

After the match, Rosenior played down the significance of his substitutions, instead praising the players’ mentality since his arrival.

“The biggest thing I learned is that there is a spirit and struggle and resilience in this group that I really love,” he said. “I have asked for this since the first day I stepped in.

“We haven’t had many training sessions, but we talked about responding positively to setbacks.

“We talked about reactions to losing the ball, pressing, energy, intensity. All of that was there in the second half, which wasn’t there in the first half. I don’t attribute it just to the changes I made.”

Overall, Rosenior’s early reign, now four weeks old, has been marked by painful results and impactful in-game adjustments.

His predecessor Maresca ended his tenure after a breakdown in relations with the owner and a league-high loss of 15 points from the winning positions, drawing repeated criticism of his mid-match decisions.

Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Liam Rosenior has not exactly returned to the best Chelsea team, but what Chelsea have known and the system they feel comfortable in. It now feels like a tactical genius because they have won.”